Stamford man burned boy with grill lighter, police say

Published 11:52 pm, Thursday, October 30, 2014

STAMFORD -- A Stamford man jailed for violating a judge's protective order five weeks ago was rearrested Wednesday after police said he beat an 8-year-old boy with a belt, kicked him and burned him in the face with a butane grill lighter.

Kevyn Garcia, 24, was charged with felony counts of first-degree assault and second-degree assault and two counts of risk of injury to a child. At his arraignment Wednesday, he was ordered held by a state Superior Court judge on $50,000 bond.

Youth Bureau Sgt. Joseph Kennedy said in mid-September, an employee at a West Side elementary school noticed the boy had bruises.

The boy first said that a circular mark came from a fall, but a Stamford Hospital worker said it was from a burn, Kennedy said.

The boy then told a police officer that Garcia burned his left cheek with the grill lighter because he would not wake up when Garcia tried to get him up on the morning after his birthday, a couple of days before police got involved, Kennedy said.

He said after some children left his house following his birthday party, Garcia got angry at him and whipped him with a spiked belt because he and a friend were shouting in his room during the party, Kennedy said.

Kennedy said police photographed bruises over much of the boy's body.

Police asked that Garcia be referred to only as a relative to protect the boy's identity.

At the same time the police began investigating the abuse allegations, Garcia was arrested after violating a judge's order prohibiting him from visiting the boy's house because of an earlier domestic incident police said. Garcia was held on $20,000 bond in that incident and has been jailed at the Bridgeport Correctional Center since then. He was brought from Bridgeport on Wednesday to have the warrant served that accused him of abusing the boy.

At his arraignment Wednesday, Garcia was assigned a public defender, and Judge Erika Tindill issued another protective order prohibiting him from contacting the boy or his mother.